Tuesday, August 29, 2017

I am not playing along, as I will be in Mexico from Saturday (whoop whoop) and this week is crazy at work, so I thought I'd have a break instead of fluffing my commenting rota..I hate doing that.

Go over to Retro Rubber and check out the fun things the DT have made.

Challenge ends September 8th. Don't forget to use a stamp over a year old and tell us the age of it, that is part of the fun of our challenge. and please only enter 10 challenges including Retro Rubber.

Monday, August 28, 2017

Today is a BH in England, so my work day will be nice and calm, as the London team are off enjoying themselves ;)

I could not resist this awesome stamp by Woodware when I was home..I already have way too many Christmas stamps, but these baubles really wanted to come home with me.

Yesterday I stamped and watercoloured 6 cards - all the same.

I love the end result, the sparkly Nuvodrops really make them come alive.

I love super quick Christmas makes that I can make a big batch of. Also the MISTI comes in super hand for this kind of tedious repeat stamping. I stamped the image and the sentiment in one go - result!!

Sunday, August 27, 2017

I am having a fun weekend hanging with Hubby watching NFL pre-season games and of course the boxing..

I figure it is going to take me several posts to show you the Margate makes..which is cool as I am heading to Mexico on Sautrday and so will need to schedule some posts.

Today's post is a mix, because I used some new things in Margate that came in the post 2 days before I left from my friend Jen. So the main photo is the thank you card I quickly whipped up using Lil Inkers Cat Treats set and a Concord & 9th sentiment stamp.

I LOVE Monster stamps, I think most people know that and to be honest I do come home to little surprise parcels with Monster stamps a lot more than I should...I am a very lucky girl.

Here is the little haul I got from Jen -

Awesome right?!

So it made sense to shove them into my case and take them with me.

The first card I made on Friday was based on a card JT and I were using as inspiration to get us started. I used the Hero Arts 'Eat Cake All Day' set from Jen -

Super simple card to get me started. I love the monster he looks so happy..The sentiments in the set are fun too, I really like 'I could eat you up' ha ha ha.

I have actually wanted these Paperartsy Monster stamps for a while, but never got round to buying them..

I thought it would be fun to make a set of cards, using four of the stamps from the set. They were all coloured using Distress inks and the sentiment is by Clearly Besotted.

Friday, August 25, 2017

So I guess the title of my post makes it seem like I actually went to an 'organised' craft thing.

Nope.. last weekend JT and I hired an Airbnb in Margate and humped all manor of craft goodies in two suitcases (one with a big shot and one all the way from NYC) and got our private craft on. We decided that it would be more fun to create our own craft retreat. That we way, we made the rules..of which there were none..

As well as crafting we had lots of fun in Margate - mainly involving food and pushing 2p's in the arcade (hard to explain to my American friends).

Here is a little collage of us and the weekend..

You can see from the main photo that we managed to make a ton of cards - 46 to be precise!!! It was oodles of fun to play with JT again face to face, I miss my buddy A LOT. Not just because of the crafting side of things, but because she's my family.

I can't wait to show you close up photos of my makes, hopefully I will get to do that this weekend.

But for now, here is a selfie of JT and I that we took on Margate Beach on Saturday afternoon, shortly after we had finished snarfing Cockles and Whelks..

Looking forward to Craftathon 2018..

Have a great weekend, I will be mainly smooching Hubby and hanging with him, because we have been apart for so long, I missed him something silly!

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

I have really enjoyed being here in London, working in the office was awesome I got SO much done and then hanging with JT in Margate (post to come) and hanging with my family and friends was fun times.

A pet hate of mine is Merry Christmas dies that give you two pieces 'Merry' and 'Christmas' pedantic I know, but...

After a big hunt I found one by Lil Inker Designs and I love it, so I wanted it to be part of a fun card.

I die-cut the white panel first and then stamped the Unity Stamp Co star background onto them all in a random fashion. I die-cut the Merry Christmas and really wanted to use a silver shape to make it pop off of the background.

Yep, cue 1hr faffing session before deciding the star was the best option.

I am really pleased with these, very simple and easy..except the faff!

Thursday, August 17, 2017

I bought it late last year, it was sold out when I was in the midst of my 2016 Christmas card making..

Another super simple card, made even easier thanks to the MISTI. I stamped the sentiment and the image at the same time.

I die-cut one of the white panels first so I knew what space I had to work with, then I lined up the sentiment and image stamps and stamped all 4 cards - love the MISTI for repeat makes.

I coloured the image using Distress Inks and a paintbrush - I bought some new detail paint brushes, I actually prefer to use paintbrushes and water than an aquabrush, I can control the water flow better. A bit of stickles here and there adds a little bit of shimmer.

The card blanks are by PaperSource and as they are a discontinued colour, they were super cheap. They are actually pretty big, so I cut them down to make two mini cards - excellent vfm!

I'm a bit over excited today, as JT and I are off on our Margatecraftathon tomorrow - whoo hoo!!

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

As you know I am in London this week, but that doesn't mean I am not joining in with the rest of the DT for the latest fun Retro Rubber challenge.

This time we have a sketch for you -

As you know I am a big fan of sketches. I rotated this one, because I wanted to use one of the stamps from the Unity Stamp Co 'Today I am Happy' set - from May 2016..

I messily watercoloured the girl and die-cut her to fit onto my card blank, I die-cut an embossed panel with the same size die to create the other panel - I don't think my photograph shows it terribly well!

The sentiment is a new one from a batch of Market Street Stamps that I bought second-hand, I heat embossed it in white, so it would pop a bit.

Again another super simple make.

Your turn to show us your interpretation of the sketch, but first pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things that the rest of the DT have made.

Challenge ends August 25th. Don't forget to use a stamp over a year old and tell us the age of it, that is part of the fun of our challenge and please only enter 10 challenges including Retro Rubber.

Monday, August 14, 2017

I had a great long weekend with my parents, yesterday was bittersweet as we had a family football match for my Uncle that died recently. He would have loved the turnout of the old guard with the new, it was a great tribute to him.

So I have kicked off my annual Christmas card making.. I start at the beginning of August, as I love to send Christmas cards, so need around 160 cards - A LOT I know, but it's my fave happy mail of the year.

I used to make them all the same, but I have such a large Christmas stamp / die stash it seems silly not to use as much of it as I can.

I managed to make about 21 cards during the first week of August, so this week, whilst I'm in London and scheduling my posts, I'll be showing you most of my makes.

Today's cards were so easy to make, I think I'll be making a few more of these.

The stamp is by Lil' Inker Designs and it comes with various sentiments to use in the banner.

I watercoloured my cards using Distress Inks and an aquabrush and kept the rest of the card simple using a red mat and stitched rectangle dies by MFT.

The stamp was so much fun to colour! All the papers are actually super old scraps, that I made excellent use of here. The hilarious sentiment is by Hero Arts and I added clear droplets by Pretty Pink Posh to spice it up a bit!

I love it and I know exactly who it will be going to :)

Your turn to show us what you make with the sketch, but first check out what the rest of the DT have made over at Sketch Saturday.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

So today I am showing you the final card from my playdate with JT 2 weeks ago.

JT had seen this idea of a repeat resist with a watercolour overlay, you can see her awesome take on this technique here - I love the Seahorse that she used for her repeat.

I used an ancient Papermania Happy Birthday stamp for my resist - it is quite long, so I only had to stamp each row and heat emboss them in white.

I watercoloured over the top of the heat embossed text and wiped off the excess with a paper towel.

The cake stamp/die is by Concord & 9th and is one of my faves.

I love resists, you get such awesome results.

I am leaving for London tonight, so for the next 14 days my posts will be scheduled. I have a few days off whilst I am in London and JT and I are having a Margatecraftathon LOL. We have hired a teeny tiny place and are taking a ton of crafting supplies and spending 3 days having a real playdate.

I kept my whole card super simple, two stitched oval die-cut panels, one in red gingham to match the photo inspiration. I stamped and die-cut the banner from the Best Buds set, the sentiment is also from the set.

I coloured the banner using Promarkers and a clear Wink of Stella pen.

I am really happy with it's understated elegance, perfect for a thank you card.

Show us what the photo inspires you to make, but first pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things that the rest of the DT have made.

Challenge ends August 11th. Don't forget to use a stamp over a year old and tell us the age of it, that is part of the fun of our challenge and please only enter 10 challenges including Retro Rubber.

Hello!

Welcome to the Ham'n'Mule Designs blog.

I set-up this blog to share tips, my projects, some chit chat and my family adventures!

Now for the fine print..

This is a personal blog and the majority of the things you see here are my own creations. I sometimes CASE other people's work and I am happy for you to the same with mine. But I would appreciate it if you'd give me a shout out and a link back to this blog if you do, just as I do with when I CASE. Please do not present anything you find here as your own or submit my work for competitions or for publication.